oh my gosh!!

About a week ago I was rolling rounds of wood down a hill and out of nowhere WHAM I have never been shocked so bad in my life!! My reaction was WHAT THE F@#$ WAS THAT then I ran away, I made it about 5 steps then another WHAM. That's when I realized it was me that I was running from, so I sat down really quick...My doc said that my heart rate got to high but that it was a normal heart rate.
I asked if I could come in and have my icd adjusted and she said yeah but then I got snowed in so it never got done...
So last night I was chopping firewood and again WHAM five times in a row...all because my heart rate was too fast even though it was a normal rythem

4 Comments

happy new year

by verger - 2009-01-01 06:01:10

welcome to the club, time for your zapper hat. yeah, it's pretty amazing, unexpected and hurts when that happens. i guess no more chopping wood for you, when i happened to me, they threw me in the hospital for a week and added amiodarone to my list of meds. get better

take it easy

by lb151 - 2009-01-01 08:01:39

I think you should take it easy until you get it adjusted..but,,l bet you already figured that out..
good luck

Get it checked

by ElectricFrank - 2009-01-01 10:01:12

You really need to get in and have it checked. It may be nothing more than having it set too sensitive. With an ICD there is usually a pacemaker function as well. Sometimes the pacemaker can cause the fast rate ant then the ICD tries to fix it.

One possibility is for them to do a treadmill test to check what your heart is doing when it reaches the trigger point. Another is to wear a HR monitor while wood cutting and moderate your activity to stay below the critical level.

I don't have an ICD, but early in my pacemaker experience the upper limit was set way to low for someone like me in good physical condition. They based the settings on my age and had my upper limit set to 120. Any attempt to climb a hill or walk into a wind would cause it to skip beats to enforce the limit. I used a HR monitor during this time and then insisted on having the upper limit increased to 130,140, and then 150. I was out in the desert hiking around today and hit 140 several times without a problem.

frank

oh my!

by candi51 - 2009-01-01 11:01:56

Oh what a shock- literally!
Do you know what your top rate is set at?
Mine is set at 205 to protect against V-fib and my low rate is set at 40 for the PM function.
Hope you get it figured out soon!

You know you're wired when...

You have rhythm.

Member Quotes

The experience of having a couple of lengths of wire fed into your heart muscle and an electronic 'box' tucked under the skin is not an insignificant event, but you will survive.